Garment incorporating elastic fabric



April 9, 1940. 0. M. CLARK ET! AL GARMENT INCORPORATING ELASTIC FABRIC Filed Dec. 14, 1958 Patented Apr. 9, 1940 David M. Clark,

Application December 14,1938,

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a garment to which a panel of latex is applied the porosity or stretchability of fabric of the garment.

In the manufacture of a girdle,

for controlling a part of the corselet or the like, made at least inpart of elastic fabric, it is frequently customary, as shown.

for example in the Field Patent No. 1,919,293, to control the stretchability in certain sections by fastening therein a panel which of the garment in predetermin may act to limit the stretch ed areas.

. though this-applied panel is in general satisfactory, such a panel is of necessity garment and to pull away at the seams.

sewed into the the panel therefore has a tendency Moreover, if the garment itself is made of elastic threads, the act of stitching the panel on certain of the threads, with age. One of the principal objects may cause the resultant breakdamage to of the present invention is to provide for controlling the stretch in a predetermined portion of a girdle by applying thereto a covering of latex which forms an integral part of the garment itself and is secured to the garment fabric.

This same type of garment has in many instances been found objectionable in that it fails to stay in the proper position on the wearer,

either creeping up sultant discomfort.

or creeping down, with re- A further feature of the invention resides in providing portions of the underside of the garment with a tacky latex covering which prevents creeping In accordance with almost entirely. the present invention the latex is applied as a panel to a fabric to a greater or less degree so that the threads of the fabric are only partly covered in some instances, or so that the threads of the and the latex terial on one side of the fabric. stood that the fabric are entirely covered forms a continuous sheet of ma- It will be underlatex when applied, can be in a more or less vulcanized condition in order to control the resultant hardness and stretchability of the latex when the fabric is completed. In cerhave applied thereto a flocking or other covering to prevent direct contact between the wearer and the latex.

A further feature of the invention resides in the attachment of stays or reinforcing elements to the garment. Rather than to provide pockets on the garment to receivethe embedded in the attachment for-the stay.

Other and further objects and stay the latter is latex which provides the only advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the Worcester, Mass, and Henry J. art, Milford, Conn.

Serial No. 245,696

- view substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view, corresponding to Fig. 3, showing a further modification. Fig.7 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing an additional modification.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

With reference to the drawing, the fabric embodying the invention is shown as incorporated in a girdle I, which'is, in the particular instance,

of knitted material, at least some of the threads of which are elastic so that the entire fabric and garment are stretchable. This fabric may be of the type disclosed in the Clark Patent No. 2,016,168, in which the knitting is so controlled as to produce a stretch in both directions of the fabric. The elastic threads are preferably of the type in which a core is wound with inelastic threads, as for example, the material commercially available under the trade name Lastex."

In accordance with the present invention, at least a portion 2 of the inner surface of the fabric 5 forming the girdle is coated with a vulcanized latex 3, of a well known type, one example of which is disclosed in the Townsend Patent No. 1,939,635. The latex which is preferably carried in a liquid as a colloidal suspension or as a dispersion, is vulcanized to a greater or less degree, prior to application to the fabric. The degree of vulcanization is dependent upon the surface desired when the material has been applied to the fabric.

The vulcanized latex is applied, as by spraying or painting, to one surface of the fabric to such an extent that when the carrying solution has evaporated the latex will have partially impregnated the fabric and will form a continuous surface of vulcanized latex, as shown in Fig. 3, which diagrammatically shows the fabric to have been "partially penetrated by the latex, with the latter being applied thickly enough to protrude to a very slight degree beyond the surface of the fabric. The disclosure of the drawing is necessarily greatly exaggerated in order to show the invention.

Instead of applying the latex to as in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, to apply a much smaller amount of latex so that certain of the threads of the fabric on one side thereof are coated, but the surface of the latex is not continuous and the fabric still remains practically as porous as before the application of the latex. This arrangement is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where the portion 4 of the garment 5 to which the latex is applied is located on the wearers thighs and the purpose-is to prevent a creeping movement of the girdle on the wearer. When the latex 6 is applied in this arrangement it is preferably vulcanized to such an extent that it will be somewhat tacky when the carrying liquid has evaporated so as to adhere slightly to the wearers body.

Although in the structure of Figs. 4 and 5 the applied latex does in some respects vary the stretchability of the fabric, the particular purpose is not so much to control the stretchability as to provide a slightly tacky surface. On the other hand, in the arrangement of Figs. 1 to 3, the primary purpose is to restrict the stretchability of the fabric of the girdle in either direction so that the portion of the girdle to which the latex is applied will have a more emphatic-restraining action than the remainder of the girdle. Thus, with the latex-treated section located at the front of the girdle, the limited elasticity or stretch at this portion tends to reduce any protrusion or bulging which so frequently occurs.

With reference to Fig. 6, the latex-treated porsuch a degree and the wearers body.

As shown in Fig. 7, the girdle l0 may furthermore be reinforced by embedding stays ll of resilient material, such as steel, within the latexit may be desirable tary article. We claim: 1. A new article of manufacture, comprising elastic fabric DAVID M. CLARK. HENRY J. STUART. 

